• Source:JND
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The feeling of ending the 11-year-long drought of not winning an ICC tournament was a burden that got lifted in 2024, with India winning the T20 World Cup in Barbados. Multiple moments stood out for the team, but the one where captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli hugged each other is still reminiscent in the hearts and minds of cricket fans. The bear hug was a testament of what both these stalwarts have achieved and lost together while representing the country.

Rohit led by example in the tournament, accumulating 257 runs at a strike rate of 156.71, which was the third-best among the top ten run-scorers on mostly bowling-friendly wickets. Kohli shrugged away the disappointment of struggling throughout the tournament, with a classy 59-ball 76 run knock powering the side to 176-7 and defending it by seven runs.

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“There was so much riding on us to take the team through," Rohit said about the hug. “It’s not that the other guys were not keen or hungry enough, but [we were]… I don’t like to say that word, but the senior-most in that squad. And we have played a lot of cricket together. In fact, when he came into the team, I was only a year old in the team. So, literally, we did everything together, played a lot of cricket together, except for the IPL. And we have seen a lot of setbacks as well with the World Cups. So, for both of us, we knew it was our last T20 World Cup, so it made it even more special," he added.

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Rohit and Kohli ended their T20 careers after announcing their respective retirements on the night of the final. They also retired from Tests in May this year, just days apart.

Now, they appear to be pushing for a spot each in India’s squad for the 2027 World Cup.

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Stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in focus again as the home side looks to avoid another embarrassing series loss to South Africa in the must-win third and final ODI here on Saturday.

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Teams (from):

India: KL Rahul (C/WK), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (C), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.

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